


drew&rick | whiteflower high

by goldpeak



Category: The Night Shift (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, Boyfriends, Crushes, Dating, Drama, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Gay, Highschool AU, Jock - Freeform, M/M, Mutual Pining, Teens, The Night Shift - Freeform, gays in love, minimal angst, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 15:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11786049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldpeak/pseuds/goldpeak
Summary: An AU in which Drew and Rick are both juniors at Whiteflower High.It's Drew's first day at Whiteflower High and he's already got a crush on the biggest jock in school. What luck! Crushes, flirting, fluff and drama- what else could you want in a highschool AU?





	drew&rick | whiteflower high

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings all. This is my first chaptered Drew&Rick fic on here, and I'm exceptionally bad at updating chaptered fics, but I'll try my best to get through this one. It's an AU, the first highschool AU I've seen for this fandom (especially this ship) so I hope you all like it!
> 
> If this isn't exactly your cup of tea and you just want fluffy domesticity or one-shots, check out my other works! I've got tons to choose from, and many more coming soon.

**A highschool AU, in which Drew and Rick are both juniors at Whiteflower High.**

7:23 AM – WHITEFLOWER HIGH EXTERIOR – DAY

Feet hitting the concrete, laughing and yelling, the rustling of backpacks and clothes. The hoard of kids all fill through the open gate, into the campus of the highschool. Drew ends up being caught right in the middle.

Someone steps on his foot, bumps into his side. He grunts, stumbling a few steps to the side where he breaks out of the crowd and finds himself standing on the outskirts of the group.

He tugs at the hem of his flannel, pulling it down from where it’s bunched up under his backpack straps. He looks around, a bit lost, waiting for the crowd to part ways as kids go off to their respective buildings for their first classes.

He glances at his watch; it reads 7:26. Four minutes till the bell rings.

He steps forward, pulling out the folded paper in his pocket.

_1 ST period: AP Literature w/ Mr. Perry in room 1203._

Building 12...the English building. He remembers where that is, right?

It’s his first time at Whiteflower High. August 16th, the first day of his junior school year.

He and his mother had just moved to their new house in Vermont a few weeks ago, after they found themselves unable to stay in their house in Texas. Too many memories stayed there - memories that neither of them wanted to tap into.

So, they had moved to a cozy house with lots of land in Vermont, just a 10-minute bus ride away from Whiteflower High- which is the state’s largest and best highschool. It would be a fresh start for both of them.

That’s great and all, but what else would be great is if Drew could find the English building before he’s late for his first class.

The crowd has dissipated almost completely, only a few stragglers heading towards their buildings. He walks forward, composing himself, looking around for Building 12, hoping that there’s a sign...or something.

He crosses what’s called the ‘senior lawn’ – he remembers that from his tour, because the senior giving the tour had vehemently declared that Drew was definitely not welcome on the senior lawn. He makes a right, going through a little archway underneath two buildings when he sees the number 12 painted on the wall of a smaller building a few meters away.

“Thank God,” he mutters, tugging the door to room 1203 open and stepping inside.

He’s the last to enter the room, which he realizes as soon as about 30 other pairs of eyes are turned on him.

He stands just in front of the door, and as soon as it drifts shut behind him, the bell rings.

“Close call, Alister.” Mr. Perry chuckles. “Well, I assume you are Mr. Alister.”

“Yes, sir,” Drew confirms, nodding at the teacher before striding confidently over to the only open desk, the second-farthest over on the 3rd row.

“Brilliant. Well, everyone, welcome to AP Literature. I do hope that you’ve finished reading the two books I assigned over the summer, as you had almost two full months to read them. If not, then I do think you’ll have a tough time these first few weeks.” Mr. Perry paces up and down in front of the whiteboard, his eyes tracking from student to student.

Drew takes a chance to look around the room- the floor is pale-colored tile, the walls all crisp, white paint. The desks are a light wood, scuffed and dirtied from previous classes and students over the years. The walls are adorned with posters from various books, some decorations scattered about. The front of the room boasts a large whiteboard, and in front of that, a large desk. On the wall either side of the whiteboard are two tall shelves, one containing copies of similar textbooks and one containing a mess of different books. Most look like classics, they’re all stuffed in the shelf, filling it top to bottom. He spots Moby Dick, Othello, Huckleberry Finn, and some other recognizable ones.

Mr. Perry continues talking, and Drew does his best to pay attention while still letting his gaze drift around the room. To the desk on his right is a nice-looking girl, with dark, wavy hair and freckles. She’s wearing a simple black t-shirt and light jeans, and she’s staring at the teacher with attentiveness written all over her face.

The desk in on his left houses a guy. He looks Drew’s age, with a head of slightly fluffy brown hair. The guy catches Drew staring, and glances at him over his shoulder. Drew quickly looks away, but not before seeing a glimpse of downright gorgeous stormy blue eyes.

Drew turns his attention back on the teacher, and out of the corner of his eye he sees the other extremely attractive guy do the same.

 _It’s been 20 minutes and I’ve already found the single hottest guy in the state of Vermont,_ Drew thinks to himself. _I’m screwed._

Twenty minutes pass. They all end up with their copies of Othello out on the desks next to their notebooks, copying down what the teacher’s writing on the board. A few minutes of analyzing later (which Drew firmly believes is all a desperate reach), Mr. Perry passes out a worksheet.

“You’re all going to hate me for giving a test on the first day of school, but wouldn’t you all like to finish our segment on Othello as soon as possible?” Mr. Perry questions, dropping the page on Drew’s desk.

5 questions, two multiple choice, one fill in the blank, one essay-length and one term-matching.

Drew grabs hold of his pencil and scribbles in his name at the top, along with the date and the period of this class.

“You have 30 minutes, until the end of the class, to finish this. Once you’re done you’re welcome to chat and mingle, quietly, to get to know your peers. It will be graded.” Mr. Perry plops down at his desk, pulls out a ragged copy of some old book. He starts to read, and Drew starts to work.

He has read Othello, like the good student he is, so all the questions are fairly easy. He has a feeling that this is meant to weed out all the kids who didn’t actually read the book, rather than test the ones who did. For God’s sake, the last question is matching characters to general descriptions.

Othello – main protagonist. Desdemona – Othello’s wife. So on, and so on.

It’s painfully easy. Drew hopes the rest of the class is like this, too.

He finishes within 10 minutes, smooths his paper out and puts his pencil away.

He’s unsure if he should walk up and turn it in, or leave it on his desk. He looks around to see what other kids have done- the girl to the right of him has also finished, and seems to be looking around like Drew is.

She catches his eye and smiles warmly, which Drew returns hesitantly.

“Hey there,” she whispers, leaning over a bit. “I’m Krista.”

“Drew,” he says, in way of greeting. “Uh, stupid question, but what do we do with these sheets?”

“I’m as lost as you are,” Krista mutters. “First day here.”

Drew nods, “You a freshman?”

“Sophomore. Moved here a bit ago,” Krista explains. “You?”

“Junior. Same situation,” Drew explains.

“Seems that some of you have finished,” Mr. Perry speaks up, and Drew snaps his head to look at him. He’s looking directly at Drew, causing the latter to flush a shade of pink. “You’re welcome to come drop your papers off at my desk anytime.”

Krista glances at Drew, looking equal parts amused and embarrassed. Drew winces, but follows her as she stands up and walks to the front. He notices the guy on his left follows them.

Mr. Perry takes his sheet from him and he turns around, intending on getting back to his desk sooner rather than later. As soon as he turns around, though, he finds himself face-to-face with none other than the ridiculously attractive guy with those stormy blue eyes.

He’s only an inch taller than Drew, but his shoulders stand straight and gives him an authoritative air about him.

“Excuse me,” he says, giving Drew a small smile, and – oh, his voice. It’s pleasant, deep but not rough, friendly, welcoming – Drew needs to stop. He ducks out of the way and stumbles back over to his desk, noticing that Krista is already seated at hers.

How long was he up there?

Krista is staring at him with unmasked amusement, leaned back in her chair. “Oh, boy. It’s been 30 minutes and you’ve already got a crush on the biggest jock in school.”

“I-What? No!” Drew mutters, quietly. “I don’t-.”

“Drew, dude,” Krista scoffs. “I’m not an idiot. Not to be stuck up, but I’m not bad-looking. Any straight guy would’ve looked me up and down already. You barely glanced at me.”

“Not- you are beautiful, It’s not-,” Drew splutters.

“I’m not offended! Oh man, you’re a mess,” Krista chuckles. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to, but I assure no one here cares.”

“Thanks,” Drew settles for mumbling, his cheeks tinted pink. “How could you tell that I – I’m not saying I do! – but why do you think I like – or that I might like – that guy.”

“Well, that guy is Rick Lincoln, and as I said, he’s the biggest jock in school. Football team, huge friend group, all nine yards.” Krista tilts her head towards him; he’s now sitting at his desk, twisted around to chat with the guy sat behind him.

“Interesting. Well I don’t like him. He’s just cute,” Drew confirms, quietly. “I don’t even know him.”

“He’s single,” Krista winks. Drew sighs.

9:31 – WHITEFLOWER HIGH EXTERIOR - DAY

Second period is Drew’s film writing class, which he enjoys enormously. His teacher is friendly, Ms. Kite, and they spend half the class discussing the process behind selling screenplays, and the other half talking about scripts and films that are important in the screenwriting industry.

After second period is break, which goes from 9:30 to 10:00. When he emerges from the film studies classroom, which is the upstairs of a 2-story building, he sees the other students all scattered around the campus. Some lay on the senior lawn, some sit at the lunch tables, some congregate in groups and some relax on the ground.

He instantly seeks out Krista, as she’s the only one he currently knows.

He’s still looking around for her when she yells his name from somewhere to his left. Wading through a crowd of students he finds her and a few others sitting in the shade on the edge of a concrete planter box.

“Hey, guys, this is Drew!” Krista gestures at Drew.

There are three other people sitting with her; a shorter African-American guy with close-cropped hair and a nervous smile, a Korean guy with glasses, and a white girl with long brown hair.

“Hey there,” the girl stands up, walking closer to him, “I’m Jordan.”

“Drew Alister,” he replies as they shake hands.

“Hey man! I’m Topher,” the Korean guy waves, and Drew returns a smile to him.

“This is Paul,” Jordan beckons at the remaining guy, who raises two fingers in an awkward almost-salute.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Drew smiles, shrugging off his backpack and sitting down on the edge of the planter box.

“You clearly know Krista.” Jordan winks at him suggestively.

Krista rolls her eyes and hits Jordan in the arm playfully, “Cram it.”

“You’re one to talk, Jordan,” Topher chips in. “Where’s TC?”

“Oooh,” Krista grins, and Jordan flushes pink. “Got you.”

“You’re all terrible,” Jordan says, though her grin counteracts her statement. “So, Drew, where you from? Krista says you’re new here.”

Drew’s forming a reply on his tongue but then out of the corner of his eye he sees a familiar form passing by. It’s none other than Rick, two different guys trailing along either side of him. Over top of one of their heads, Rick’s gaze meets Drew’s and he smiles a little half-smile before his group turns the corner.

“Oh my God, you’re hot for Rick Lincoln,” Jordan gasps.

Drew groans, tipping his head back. “I am not! He’s just cute!”

Drew’s mildly concerned about why his interest in the other man is so obvious; he’d had crushes at his school in Texas and no one had even noticed. He guesses the possibility of being gay is not the first thing that leaps to a standard Texan’s mind. In Vermont, which is much more of a liberal state, he supposes that a person being gay isn’t as much as a myth here.

“Is he- you know, into women?” Drew shifts uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck.

“He’s dated a few guys, a few girls too,” Topher supplies. “He looks like he’s got an ego, but he’s honestly super nice. You should go talk to him.”

Drew shakes his head, “He looks busy. Maybe later.”

“Hey, who’s the newbie?” A voice calls out.

Drew snaps his head to look in the other direction, a tall scruffy guy walking towards them. Jordan walks over to meet him, they share a brief kiss before Jordan links their arms and gestures at Drew.

“T, this is Drew. Drew, this is my boyfriend, TC.” she looks up at the man, a slight smile on her face.

“Nice to meet you,” Drew goes to shake hands with the other man. “Drew Alister.”

“Welcome to Whiteflower High,” TC grins, waves his hand around. “Hope you like it here.”

-

 


End file.
